One in Eight

Women, start with yourself and add seven other women you’re really close to – friends or family members too. Men, list eight women you’re close to – mothers, wives, and daughters count.

As you’re thinking of names, imagine their faces.

Here’s my list:

Got your list? Now close your eyes and randomly point to pick someone.

Who’d you pick?

Sadly, the woman you picked doesn’t win a prize.

One in eight women gets breast cancer, so statistically the woman you picked is that one.

Of course, this is just a game. We all know that there’s no absolute way to predict who will get breast cancer and who won’t.

This game really hits home though, doesn’t it? We know the statistics are bad, but we don’t really know how horrific they are until we replace the numbers with the names and faces of people we love.

One in eight women.

No, it’s not fair.

Yeah, it sucks.

Maybe you’ll be lucky and none of the eight women on your list will get breast cancer, but means that multiple people on someone else’s list will get it.

In the game my finger pointed to my mom.

In reality my grandma is the one on my list.

Three years ago, at 87 years old, my grandma had a lump checked out. It was cancerous. She underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. It was hard to say the least, but she toughed it out. Today at 90 she’s still cancer free.

I never worried much about breast cancer before my grandma was diagnosed, but now I do. Now there’s a greater risk that someone else in my family will get it.

Next could be my mom. Or me. Or one of my daughters or granddaughters. My aunt, two cousins and their two daughters… the list just keeps growing.

I’m not liking this.

So what’s my point?

You probably already know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Awareness is a good place to start, but awareness alone isn’t going to do it.

We to know how to cure this thing, and how to keep it from starting in the first place. We need research to learn what causes it, and how to stop it in it’s tracks. We need to find ways to protect ourselves and those we love.

I’m not asking you to donate money; how you spend your money is your business.

What I am asking is that you DO something – whatever works for you. Maybe you’ll write about breast cancer on your blog, walk in a cancer walk, wear pink jewelry, call your Congressman, join the Army of Women, turn your blog or website pink, get a pink stripe in your hair, I’m definitely looking into that one, or get involved through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.